Council voted approval during its September 14 teleconference for a recommendation from Councillor Yves Paquette to award a contract for the Île Chenail shoreline erosion study to Lascelles Engineering & Associates Ltd. of Hawkesbury. The decision was based on a proposed estimate from Lascelles last October on how much a shoreline erosion study might cost.
The Lascelles estimate was for $39,500. Council had allocated $40,000 in the 2020 budget for the study but then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, forcing town council and staff to focus on maintaining municipal services and putting a temporary hold on some municipal projects.
Standard municipal policy for any purchase of goods or services valued at between $5000 and any amount less than $50,000 requires a competitive bid process with at least three bids received for the purchase contract. The town’s recreation director is not available at present to canvass for two more competitive bid proposals for the study so the town recreation and facilities committee recommended in a report to council postponing the study to next year and putting the money allocated in the budget into a reserve fund until then.
Councillor Paquette, with support from Councillors Robert Lefebvre and Antonios Tsourounakis, urged council not to delay the start of the erosion study. Council decided by a majority vote to set aside the purchasing policy and award the contract to Lascelles Engineering.
The shoreline erosion study will include a topographical survey of the entire Île Chenail shoreline, along with an environmental assessment to meet federal fisheries environment protection demands as the Ottawa River is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
